Prepare To Pay More For Petrol, FG Tells Nigerians

The Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylvia, has urged Nigerians to prepare for a possible increase in the price of petrol as the global oil price hits $60 per barrel.

Sylvia, speaking during the launch of the Nigerian Upstream Cost Optimisation Program, on Tuesday, noted that there is no provision of petrol subsidy in the 2021 budget.

He said since their is no budgetary provisions for subsidy in the 2021 budget, it had become imperative for the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation to optimize its cost.

He said, “As a country, let us take the benefits of the higher crude oil prices and I hope we will also be ready to take a little pain on the side of higher product prices.

“Since we are optimizing everything, NNPC needs to also think about the optimization of product cost because as we all know oil prices are where they are today, $60. 

“Today the NNPC is taking a big hit from this. We all know that there is no provision in the budget for subsidy. So, somewhere down the line, I believe that the NNPC cannot continue to take this blow. There is no way because there is no provision for it.” 

There had been increases in the pump prices of petrol since June 2020.

The price of petrol rose from N121.50 to N123.50 per litre in June, to N140.80-N143.80 in July, N148-N150 in August, N158-N162 in September and N163-N170 in November.

The pump price of petrol has however remained unchanged since November 2020, despite the continued rise in global crude oil price.